Pull Your Weight
by Ashuron of the Scarlet Scale
Summary: A different kind of fanfiction from me! Asuka and Homura have a son! However, after several months, Asuka doesn't feel Homura is rising to the occasion of motherhood. She devises a plan to make her take more responsibility.


"Homura!" yelled Asuka. "Where are you!?"

Homura was quite familiar with the tone of voice that her wife was using. It wasn't a voice she heard often, but she knew what it meant: Asuka was angry.

"I'm in our bedroom, reading a book!" Homura answered.

"Well, put the book down now!" Asuka demanded as she stormed into the room, slamming the door behind her.

"You're mad."

"What gave it away?"

"Alright. Alright." Homura sighed. "What are you mad about?"

"You haven't been pulling your weight with taking care of Hanzou!"

When Asuka said "Hanzou", she was not referring to her grandfather. He had passed away a few years ago. She was referring to their son, whom they had agreed to name after Asuka's late grandfather. They had received sperm from a donor, and Asuka was the birth mother.

"Just because you're not his mother by birth doesn't make him any less YOUR responsibility than it does mine! We are BOTH his legal guardians. We even have official paperwork to prove it if necessary. By any definition but biological, you are his mother too! I've put up with this for MONTHS, but not anymore."

Homura sighed once again. "You're right, Asuka. I'll start doing more with him from now on."

"You're going to do more than that," Asuka replied. "Yumi got me a gift card to a local spa. I WAS going to invite you for a romantic day off and get Katsuragi and Ikaruga to babysit BUT I decided instead, I'm going to go with Yumi tomorrow, and you get to spend the whole day at home, taking care of Hanzou. Think of this as an opportunity to bond with your son."

Wow, Homura didn't think Asuka had it in her, and she pretty much knew her better than anybody at this point. When Asuka was ready to fight for something she felt was important, she was certainly passionate. Her own child certainly rose to that level. This wasn't passionate though: this was a spiteful move, unprecedented in their relationship. She began to realize the truth, if she could not be a good mother to the boy, she risked not only losing his trust and affection but losing her relationship with Asuka as well. Neither was something she wanted to lose.

Early the next morning, Homura awoke to the sound of a crying infant. This was not the first time this had happened, but usually, Asuka was on the scene in a flash, and the crying would stop. That made it pretty easy for Homura to just drift back to sleep. This time, she knew that Asuka would not be doing that. It was Asuka who got to sleep in this time. But how was she not even reacting? Surely Asuka can hear it. Wait. That's it. Earplugs. Asuka was wearing earplugs. She knew this would happen.

She rushed over to Hanzou's crib and tried to shush him, not violently, but in a calming way. It did not work. What could he be crying about? Even if he couldn't articulate why babies don't just cry for no reason. There had to be a logical explanation. Is he hungry? No, Asuka always fed him at the same time every morning, and this was too early by several hours. Did he want to play? Noticing a box of toys underneath the crib, she reached in and grabbed a random toy, which happened to be a rattle.

"This is what you want, right?" She shook the rattle desperately in the infant boy's face, but his crying only continued. Was there no other choice than to ask Asuka for help? No, she had to see this through without Asuka. If she didn't, her wife would never let her hear the end of it. Plus, she had her own pride to worry about too. She pulled out her cell phone. When the person she chose to call, Haruka, actually answered, she felt a rush of hope."

"Homura, do you have any idea what time it is? It's very early in the morning. You know I need my beauty sleep."

"Haruka? You're like kind of a scientist, right? What reasons can you think of that a baby might cry?"

"Homura, darling." Her friend replied. "Scientists tend to have areas of expertise, and my personal one is not infant psychology."

"Haruka PLEASE! It's too early for him to be fed, I already tried his toys, I tried to calm him down with a soothing voice, but NOTHING works! He must want something, right?"

"Well, does he need to be changed?"

"Change into what, a dragon?"

"No, dearie, his… well, his diaper."

Oh. Homura had not considered _that_ possibility. Now that someone brought it up, it seemed actually somewhat obvious.

"But, how would I check something like that? Is there some kind of indicator device in the diaper."

"Huuuuuh? What do you mean how do you check? Just pick him up and smell his little butt, of course. Well, I'm going to get back to sleep. I have no other theories as to why your son is crying."

"Haruka wait—

But the line was already dead.

" _Just pick him up and smell his little butt."_ Homura reached into the crib and gently picked up the boy, held him and sniffed him, confirming that the boy did, in fact, need his diaper changed.

She brought him over to the table that Asuka had set aside for changing him. Thankfully, the boy apparently had enough conditioning to know that being on this table meant he would be changed, and his crying stopped. This gave Homura enough quiet to think, but she knew that if she didn't successfully change his diaper, this respite would only be temporary.

"How do I even get this thing off?" Homura asked aloud. She tried tugging it off him, but it seemed like something was stopping her. Realizing that there was, in fact, a velcro seal on the diaper, she finally got it off.

And of course, the way in which baby Hanzou had chosen to ruin his diaper was not "#1", it was "#2." Unlike her, he was not a grown enough to wipe himself. It was quite clear that she would have to do it for him.

"Asuka must have stuff around here." She noticed a box with spare diapers and various other objects inside. It only made sense that these were other baby-changing supplies, so to speak. There was also a note in the box. Homura picked it up and recognized Asuka's handwriting.

"Homura, if you're reading this, then Hanzou needs his diaper changed. I left you some instructions just in case you've never done it before." Pridefully, she tossed the instructions aside. Then she looked down at Hanzou and realized that without Asuka's help, she had no clue what she was doing. This wasn't about her. It was about him. Besides, she really wasn't just doing this because her wife had yelled at her. She had made a mistake, but she really did care about the baby boy, and she wanted him to bear no ill-feelings towards her. She knew from her own experience: intentions were not good enough. Her parents certainly didn't want to disown her after her run-in with that teacher of hers. They were harsh with expectations, but they weren't uncaring. That's why they left her Engetsuka. They knew that she had just made the mistake of trusting someone who clearly didn't deserve it, and it was a common mistake of young people. They had no choice. Keeping her around would have endangered the entire clan, as her identity had been compromised. Nevertheless, it was not so easy to fully convince herself that she had not just been abandoned. Now that she was a parent, she knew that she could not let him suffer the way she had, feel the same feeling of fear and abandonment. It was her duty to provide him with what he needed.

Swallowing that pride, she picked the note back up off the ground and carefully followed Asuka's instructions for how to wipe him clean, disgusting as the ordeal was. At least she finally found a task that she felt rivaled the difficulty of Suzune-sensei's training. Getting a fresh diaper onto him turned out to be a bit more complicated, but Asuka's instructions helped a lot. While it hurt her pride to admit that she couldn't do this on her own, she also felt a warmth in the realization that she didn't have to, that her wife, even when angry with her, was considerate enough to lend her support and aid.

A few hours later, it was time for him to be fed. Homura wasn't completely ignorant as to not know that his baby food was in the fridge. Opening it up, she was happy to realize that the baby food came with its own instructions. Although there was still curiously a note from Asuka. Whatever. The boy was hungry, and if he was hungry, he would eat.

The jar came with a small plastic blue spoon. "Your child has not yet developed the motor skills necessary to hold a spoon, so you must do it for them. Bring the spoon gently and slowly to the child's mouth. Allow the child enough time to fully take the spoon into their mouth before removing it, but be careful as your child may not be able to distinguish the spoon from the food itself, and the child could choke if they eat the spoon. Repeat this process until the child has finished the entire jar." She read aloud. "Fair enough. This should be easy." She lifted the boy and placed him into his booster seat. Carefully opening the jar, she snapped the spoon off the side of the jar and pulled up a full spoonful of the substance. Just as instructed, she brought it slowly to Hanzou's mouth.

But her son's mouth did not even open.

"Uh….." She was at a loss. "Earth to Hanzou, you gotta eat if you wanna survive. Mommy's got your food here, so… eat it!"

The boy did not budge.

Asuka's note. Asuka's note would surely have more information for her. She dashed to the fridge, opened it, and grabbed the note.

"Hanzou doesn't always eat right away. I found that he needs to take his time, and you need to be patient with him. Don't yell at him because it will frighten him, and he won't understand why you're yelling. If he still doesn't eat, it's because he wants you to have some. This may sound stupid, but he really doesn't like eating alone. I think it's super cute!"

Asuka was right. That did sound stupid. But at least the part about patience made sense. She was a shinobi. She was a master of patience. Skilled kunoichi like her knew that they might have to wait days, even weeks staking out a single target. Obviously, she was a master of patience.

Of course, that was in the field. This was a bit different. She had not expected this to be so **incredibly boring**.

Maybe, there was something to what Asuka said. She walked over to their silverware drawer and got out her own separate spoon and took her own sample of the baby food. It was a very strange sensation. The taste, surprisingly, certainly wasn't bad, the texture was anything but pleasant. Finishing her bite, she lifted Hanzou's spoon back up to his mouth. To her surprise, the boy actually opened and began to eat! Score! Victory! At least, those were some of the words running through her mind before he spat up some of his food directly onto her shirt.

Once Hanzou finished his meal and Homura changed her shirt, the next order of business was playtime. It may literally sound like fun and games, but it was a very important part of the child's development. Playtime serves as exercise for both his body and mind, which are in critical developmental stages. At least, that's what Asuka's note said.

This task turned out to be, by far, Homura's favorite. First, it was easy. There weren't steps that she wasn't aware of like with the diaper change, and he did not need to be cajoled into doing it like with the feeding. If she gave the boy toys, he would play. Secondly, she actually found herself enjoying it too. It gave her the opportunity to be silly and spontaneous too, and only served to encourage the boy to play harder. It was surprising to learn how much she actually missed acting like a child.

She even came up with a game that Hanzou seemed to enjoy _a lot_. The name of this game, she decided, would be _Mama Crab_. To play Mama Crab, Homura would get into a traditional crab walk position, while carrying Hanzou on her tummy. Asuka would probably freak out if she saw this and give Homura a lecture about how dangerous this game was. But hey, she did tell Homura to bond with her son, and they both were enjoying the heck out of this game. Was that not bonding? Besides, what Asuka wouldn't know wouldn't hurt her.

After playtime, Hanzou needed one more diaper change. The second time was significantly easier, as she knew what to expect. Also, since he went "#1" this time, there was a lot less "maintenance" to perform.

The next thing Homura new, she was awoken by the sound of Asuka's voice.

"I'm home." Asuka greeted her wife with a kiss.

"I can see that," Homura responded. "How was your day? Was it fun?"

"Not as fun as yours seems to have been."

Homura looked down to see Hanzou asleep in her lap, leaning on her chest.

"He looks so comfortable," whispered Homura.

"Not as comfortable as you looked." Asuka giggled. "When I came in you were asleep, too, holding him gently in your arms."

"I guess we were both kinda tuckered out."

"That's understandable. He's so peaceful when he's like this though, isn't he?"

"Yeah".

Asuka leaned in and kissed the baby boy on the cheek. "I hope you're having the sweetest dreams, my little angel."

"You never answered my question, Asuka."

"What question?"

"How was your spa day?"

"Well." Asuka let out a sigh. "It turned out to not be as relaxing as I wanted it to be. I couldn't stop worrying."

"Did you really think that I wouldn't be able to handle it?"

"That's not what I was worried about. I was worried… well." She blushed. "I was worried that I may have been a little too harsh with you. I talked to Yumi about it, and she said that I made a good move, but I didn't want you to resent me for not taking you with me to the spa."

"Asuka." Homura pulled her wife in close and kiss her on the forehead. "I love you. I could _never_ resent you. We can go to the spa anytime, but his needs should come first right now."

"Can I ask you something now?"

"Anything."

"Why do you think you weren't spending as much time with him?"

"I know the answer to that one. You know I was disowned, right? Well, it was my fault."

"Homura, you don't need to—

"It's alright. You can justify it however you want. Tell me I was young, naive, stupid, and I know better now. I wouldn't even disagree, but it doesn't change that it was my fault. I did something so incredibly stupid that my parents couldn't afford to keep me around the house anymore. They were so rigid with my training, but… but they couldn't save me from my own dumb mistake. What if Hanzou makes a mistake too? A mistake that we can't save him from? I was so scared. I don't want Hanzou to have to go through anything similar to what I did. I was scared."

Asuka pulled her wife and son in for a big family hug. "Is that it? Homura, if that's really what you're afraid of, then all the more reason to be as big a part of Hanzou's life as you can. Be a role model. Teach him to learn from your mistake. You may not think you can save him from making a stupid mistake, but I _know_ that you can because you can teach him how to see what you couldn't."

"I never thought about it that way," Homura replied. "But you're right, Asuka! I can teach him. I'll be his role model! I'll be his biggest hero!"

"That's the spirit. Now let's get him up to his crib."

"Actually." Homura turned away in embarrassment. "I want to stay like this just a bit longer if that's alright."

Asuka smiled. "Of course it is." She turned and walked away.

Just as Asuka was about to exit the room, she turned back.

"One last thing."

"Hm?"

Asuka reached into her bag and pulled out a white device with an antenna. "By the way, you know that I have a baby monitor, right? I saw your stupid crab game. What were you thinking?"

Oh crap. Busted. She would definitely have to be more sneaky the next time she and Hanzou played Mama Crab because there would definitely be a next time. That was their game, and no one could take it away from them. Not even Asuka.


End file.
